If you can't make ends meet, there's free spaghetti

When some of his good friends lost their jobs thanks to a bad economy, Matt Rhead paired with his pal Joe Ryan to figure out what they could do to help the jobless who fall through the cracks. They wanted to help not just the families struggling to make ends meet, but also the households that now find themselves parking their Lexus at Aldi for a shopping trip or deleting trips to restaurants to stretch their unemployment checks.

"When people are under strain it reflects on their family life," Rhead said. "We just thought it would be nice to just give people a place where they can come and have a nice home-cooked meal."

Rhead and Ryan already had years of experience feeding large groups of people. The two often find themselves in charge of the food whenever St. Charles Episcopal Church has a pig roast, St. Patrick's Day or Mardi Gras celebration.

But they knew this had to be different from all of those efforts. They didn't want the experience to feel like a soup kitchen or that there would be some secret motive of getting people to join the church or listen to a sermon. So, from the onset, the pair decided the only part of the effort the church would be involved in would be lending the use of its kitchen and dining space. The rest, from the food to the cooking to the interaction with people who came to the meal, would be all Rhead, Ryan and a couple of other guys willing to donate their own time and money to make it happen.

Since April, they've made it happen three times. From 5 to 7 p.m. on the final Sunday of the month the all-volunteer crew has dished out a total of about 250 totally free meals. For those two hours, St. Charles Episcopal Church becomes the home of the best spaghetti dinner you can get that doesn't end with a bill to pay at the cashier. There is no cashier. There isn't even a bill. In fact, the place doesn't even look like a church. There is no sermon, no collection plate, no church literature passed around.

Instead, tablecloths, uniformed wait staff, classic Chianti bottles with candles and even an Italian flag and Italian newspapers provide the ambience for the monthly escape from economic woes.

"Initially, we found it's kind of hard to do something for free," Rhead said. "It really does kind of take people aback. There are no strings attached, just a good home-cooked meal for free to anyone who wants to come."

Ryan said meals have been enough of a success so far that they are now hoping the event grows so they can help more people. So far, attendance has never been more than about 100 people at the dinners. On the final Sunday in July, they are hoping to serve 250 people.

"We're just going to keep doing it until nobody shows up," Ryan said.

Spaghetti: Dinner comes with no strings attached